


Engulfed in Flame

by evilwriter37



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [8]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Hallucinations, Sleep Deprivation, Whump, hiccup!whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29093760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwriter37/pseuds/evilwriter37
Summary: Hiccup blames himself for Viggo’s death, and apparently, so does Viggo.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2134545
Comments: 11
Kudos: 20





	Engulfed in Flame

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Hallucinations

Hiccup stared in awe at what couldn’t possibly be there, but was. There stood Viggo Grimborn, engulfed in flame. He didn’t appear to notice it, just stood there instead of writhing in agony.

But Viggo Grimborn was dead. He’d fallen into the volcano and Hiccup hadn’t been able to save him. 

Yet here he stood.

“Viggo?” Hiccup took a step forward, unsure of what was going on. Toothless was beside him, but not reacting. Instead, he gave Hiccup an odd look when he said the name. 

Hiccup reached a hand out for him, and then he was gone. Hiccup blinked, shook his head. He rubbed at one eye to clear his vision. Yes, Viggo was gone. 

“Gods, I’m seeing things,” Hiccup murmured. He was in the forest with Toothless, about to do some training with him, but had become distracted by what he’d seen, what he’d seen that hadn’t really been there. Viggo was dead. He was seeing things that weren’t really there. 

And he certainly wasn’t going to tell anyone about it. How could he? All his friends would think he’d lost his mind. Maybe he had. The guilt of not being able to save Viggo, of seeing him fall into the smoke and steam, wracked him, kept him up at night. Maybe he was seeing things due to his guilt and lack of sleep. 

Or maybe he really was crazy. 

Either way, Hiccup couldn’t dwell on it. He had to train with Toothless. That’s what he’d come out here to do, and he would do it.

“I’m alright, Toothless,” Hiccup told him. He climbed into the saddle, pet his dragon between the ears. “I’m alright.” 

Toothless looked at him as if he doubted this, but didn’t make a sound in protest. Instead, he took to the air. 

  
  


Hiccup’s friends surely noticed that he was distracted - he’d trail off mid-sentence, not respond when he was spoken to - but they didn’t ask about what was bothering him. Hiccup wasn’t going to tell them either. 

He was glad when it was just him and Toothless in his hut, readying for bed. He took off his armor and his prosthetic, cleaned his face, rinsed out his mouth with mint water. Then he settled into bed and Toothless his sleeping stone. 

As Hiccup was beginning to drift off, a weight settled into the bed behind him. He jumped, startled, not sure what was going on. A hand ran through his hair as if to soothe him, a familiar voice reaching his ears.

“You could have saved me, my dear Hiccup.”

“Viggo.” Hiccup saw no point in turning around. He didn’t want to see the man. “I-I tried.”

“Did you? Did you really?” That hand was still running affectionately through his hair. Viggo had never touched him like this before, but it didn’t take much to realize that he’d wanted to. 

“You  _ know  _ I did.”

Lips at his ear. “But it didn’t work. I died because of you.”

“No.”

“ _ You  _ threw the Dragon Eye.  _ You  _ led me to my death.”

“Y-you’re the one who went after it,” Hiccup said quietly, guilt overwhelming him. Was Viggo telling the truth? Was his death  _ really  _ his fault?

Hiccup thought it was, sometimes. If he hadn’t thrown the Dragon Eye, Viggo wouldn’t have ended up on that unstable cliff. He wouldn’t have fallen. He wouldn’t have  _ died _ . 

“You know it’s your fault, Hiccup, my dear. You know it in your heart.”

Hiccup was going to respond, but then the weight and the touching was gone. Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut, hands in fists, trembling. His fault. It was all his fault. He’d killed Viggo. 

A cooing and rumbling noise brought him from his mind. He opened his eyes to find Toothless off his sleeping stone, in front of him and staring questioningly. 

“I-I wasn’t talking to myself,” Hiccup told him. He sat up, looked around his hut that was empty save for them. “Or… maybe I was.” He sighed, sure that he wasn’t going to get any sleep that night. He pet Toothless on the snout, then took a candle and went downstairs to work on one of his inventions. 

  
  


And Viggo bothered him all the while while he worked. Sometimes he would guilt him over his death. Other times he would simply tell him he was doing his work wrong. It irked Hiccup to no end. He didn’t talk to him though, tried to ignore him, tried to focus. 

But finally, it became too much. Hiccup suddenly stood from his chair.

“Shut up!” he shouted. Into emptiness. Viggo wasn’t there. No one was. 

Hiccup crumpled to the floor, rubbing at his head. 

“What the fuck is wrong with me?” he asked the silence and the flame flickering on the candles. 

He was given no answer. 

  
  


“Hiccup, did you sleep at all?” Astrid asked. She’d come into his hut to bring him breakfast, as he hadn’t gone to the clubhouse to get it. He was afraid that he’d see Viggo there, among his friends. 

“Not really,” Hiccup answered truthfully, setting aside the map he’d been working on. He turned to Astrid in his chair. “Thank you for the food, but I’m not really hungry.”

Astrid set the tray on his desk, then crossed her arms. “Okay, what’s wrong with you? Something’s been bothering you since yesterday. What is it?”

“N-nothing. I’m fine.”

“And yet you won’t sleep or eat.” She pulled a chair over and sat across from him, their knees touching. “Hiccup, it’s okay.” She cupped his cheek with one hand. “You can tell me anything.”

Hiccup took her hand and made her lower it from his face. He felt truly awful, what with not having slept and being annoyed by Viggo. But he couldn’t tell her. Why would he?

“But I can’t. I-I… You’d think I was crazy.”

Astrid shook her head, gave Hiccup’s hand a squeeze. “I promise I won’t. And I won’t tell anyone either.”

Hiccup sighed. Maybe he could tell Astrid then.

“You promise?” he asked.

“Promise.” She gave him a small, reassuring smile.

“Okay, well…” Hiccup didn’t know where to begin. He looked away from Astrid, at Viggo. He just stood there expectantly, hands behind his back, looking as if he  _ wanted  _ Hiccup to tell her about him. “I’ve been… I’ve been seeing things,” he admitted. “Hearing things.”

“Like what?”

Hiccup still wouldn’t look at her. Fire flickered to life at Viggo’s feet, curled its way up his legs, swallowed his midsection. It went till it was covering him from head to toe. 

“It’s Viggo,” he said. 

“Hiccup, he’s dead.”

“I-I know that.” He looked at her now, seeing the flaming man out of the corner of his eye. “That’s the problem. I’m blaming myself for his death, so now I’m seeing and hearing him.”

Astrid nodded in understanding. She took his other hand so that she held both of them. “What kinds of things does he say?”

“That it was all my fault,” Hiccup said quietly, getting choked up. “That I killed him.” There was a lump in his throat. “Astrid, I-I never wanted him to die. I didn’t-didn’t want it to end like that.” He looked down. Viggo was no longer in his sight. Maybe he’d disappeared again. 

“I know, Hiccup.” She ran a hand through his hair, like Viggo had the night before. Her touch felt so different from his. “It wasn’t your fault. It was nobody’s fault.”

Hiccup sniffled. A tear plopped onto his nose. “But I feel like it is.”

Astrid leaned forward and took him into her arms. Hiccup rested his head against hers, his chin on her shoulder.

“It wasn’t. Tell me you know that.”

Hiccup stared at Viggo, still engulfed in flame, still standing there. There was a smirk on his lips.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Hiccup said hollowly. It was a lie, and he knew it. Viggo knew it. 


End file.
